Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Sheldon Lyon, Nodaway County Sheriff Ben Espey and Abbot Gregory Polan walk away from Conception Abbey after a gunman went on a shooting spree Monday morning. (JOSH BIGGS/News-Press)
CONCEPTION, Mo. — Gunshots startled the peace, prayer and welcome built during the last 129 years by a group of Benedictine brothers.
CONCEPTION JUNCTION, Mo. — Three people, including two monks, were killed and two others were injured after a gunman opened fire at a Roman Catholic abbey in northwest Missouri, authorities said.
CONCEPTION, Mo. (AP) — A 71-year-old man opened fire at a Roman Catholic Abbey, killing two monks and seriously wounding two others before committing suicide in an abbey chapel, authorities said.
A spokeswoman for the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese said the diocese did not know if the shootings early Monday at Conception Abbey Benedictine monastery were related to the sex abuse scandal that has plagued the Catholic church for months.
At age 70, beard white as snow, Father Hugh Tasch looks the part of the venerable old monk. But something has put the sparkle of a fresh-faced novice in his eyes.